Amalgamation
by Bimadabomi
Summary: Post AYITL. They all had become family years ago, but the wedding made it official. Possibly more chapters to come, exploring the Gilmore world after the final four words. Emphasis on the family dynamics and not so much on Rory's romances.
1. Chapter 1

After eloping in secret the night before, the second wedding went off without a hitch. Nerves were gone. Rory, Michel, and Lane had secret smiles on their face as they watched Luke and Lorelai go through the ceremony again. Lorelai laughed softly to herself as Luke put the ring on her finger once again – for a town that was so crazy, so in everyone's business, prided itself on gossip, she felt they'd managed to pull one over on them. For all the years she'd waited to do this, now they had done it twice.

The party was huge. The whole town was there. Babette and Miss Patty were serving their special punch, sneaking cups of it for themselves between servings. Kirk beamed with pride every time someone complimented the decorations, even as he chased after Petal endlessly. Lorelai had to hand it to him – he'd pulled it off. Even Taylor was walking around with a huge smile on his face – probably for some other reason, like less worry about the couple splitting and business in the town to be divided. But no matter the reason, he was chipper, whistling and greeting his fellow townspeople. The town having an excuse to come together like this always put smiles on the majority of their faces. Lane and Zach and the band were happily playing an assortment of songs, always excited to get the chance to get the band together and play. Jess was pretending to be annoyed with everyone and everything, but everyone knew better by now. Emily was animatedly chatting with Gypsy, Berta and her family not far behind. Berta's children were dancing happily to whatever music played – the fast, the slow, and the rock and roll. Sookie was rushing around, fussing with the food and checking on the cakes to make sure Kirk hadn't sampled the frosting. April was sharing pictures of her recent trip to Germany with Liz, TJ, and Doula - all three of whom were decked out to the nines in renaissance faire fashion. Luke had been rolling his eyes at their wardrobe choices, but Lorelai smiled with nostalgia, remembering when they'd attended her now sister and brother in-law's wedding – their own first date, so many years ago. Oddly enough, here they all were under the moonlight in the town square, celebrating again.

"Lucas Danes!" his slightly tipsy new wife found him in the crowd and approached him, careful not to stumble over her dress. "There you are. You were messing with me, weren't you?" She looped her arms around his neck, even as she spoke the accusatory words.

"What?"

"You don't know Keifer Sutherland!" she accused, pointing a finger at him and jabbing him lightly in the chest.

Luke laughed, his eyes sparkling with mischief and adoration at his wife. Lorelai was used to this look by now. He'd always had the look of adoration in there, somewhere. In the past few years the mischievous baiting seemed to appear more and more. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't."

"Well, he's not here!"

"He's very busy. Couldn't get away on such short notice."

"Luuuke," she whined with a pout, but she laughed, her eyes sparkling at his playfulness. "Jokster," she declared, pushing at him lightly.

He let his own arms find their place at her waist. "You look beautiful."

Lorelai's teasing manner faded away and she smiled back at her husband softly. "Thank you. You look hot. Hotter than yesterday."

Luke laughed. "Thanks."

"I can't wait to take you home tonight," she went on with a giggle.

"Hey, do me a favor and stay away from the punch the rest of the night. You've had enough."

"I'm not drunk," she protested. "I'm just happy!"

"I know," Luke agreed, giving her a soft kiss. Several guests in the crowd caught this moment and cheered. "Let's keep it that way. Happy turns to drunk real fast with that stuff. Enough to be happy, not enough that we spend our wedding night with me holding your hair back while you throw up."

"First of all, it's not the punch that's making me happy. Tipsy? Sure. Happy? That's you. Second, offering to hold my hair back is actually very romantic."

"I've done it before," he reminded her with a raise of his eyebrows. "Not as romantic as you'd think."

She laughed, remembering the first time. An incident in a parking lot many years ago in a skirt she then tried to dispose of after their break up – not to mention several instances since, due to both illness and alcohol – when Luke had held her hair for her. "I guess not, but I sure do looooove you," she declared. She looked around at the guests and caught sight of Rory across the square. She lowered her voice. "Luke, we're going to be grandparents," she said in a whisper. "I mean what the-"

"Lorelai," he cut her off with a laugh.

"We're so young," she said with mock despair. "I'm not even fifty yet!"

"You were a young mom. It was kind of a given."

"Yeah, but – man. You're too hot to be a grandfather."

"I don't think that's in the requirements."

She got serious for a moment. "I'm glad we're going to go through this together."

He nodded and kissed her again, more cheers arising from the crowd. "Me too."

Then she suddenly laughed. "My mother is going to be a great grandmother, oh my God. She's so young to be a great grandmother! She could be around long enough to watch her great grandchild grow into their twenties. I mean what the hell?"

"Again, the young mom thing and second, keep it down unless you want the whole town to know tonight."

Lorelai nodded and held a finger to her lips. "Let's go."

"Where?"

"I don't know. Out there," she gestured towards their wedding reception. "Mingle, dance, eat. Oh man, let's eat. I'm starving. I don't think I've eaten all day."

"What about your flash mob, huh?" Luke asked her with a nudge to her side. "Who's the jokester now?"

"You said you had one, too!"

"You think I don't know how to keep up with your banter by now?"

Lorelai laughed, delighted. "I just love you. Can you believe this? It took us this long to get married? We've known each other what… twenty years? Twenty years, Luke. Oh man, we're something else."

He shrugged, although he did have to agree this was pretty incredible. "We figured it out."

"And now we've waited so long we're going to be," she lowered her voice again as she glanced around her, "grandparents. Newlyweds and grandparents."

"I hate to break it to you, Lorelai, but we've basically been married for nine years now. Things are not going to be all that different."

She grinned. "Well, not much. Now you have that ring on. Which is so sexy, by the way. I should've married you for that perk years ago. But really the plus is that those tramps that come into the diner and stare at you will get a hint now."

"What?"

"Oh, yeah. I see them. Don't think I don't notice."

"Well, I'm glad someone does, because I sure don't."

"Yeah. Sure. I see you pouring them their coffee."

"That's my job."

"Ha. You used to pour my coffee and look where that led."

"You're insane. I've never noticed any staring."

"One: right answer, two: of course you don't."

"What is that supposed to mean? Like you're so adept at picking up on that. Took you forever to notice me looking at you."

"Hey!" she retorted, but she couldn't help but burst out into giggles. "Okay, fair point, I guess. So you're admitting that all those years, you were looking at me... like that?"

He snorted in disbelief that she was still trying to figure that out. "Yes."

"When did you start looking?"

"God, Lorelai, I don't know. The day you came in, probably. You know I kept that damn horoscope." He could tell she was about to gloat over some aspect of this so he added, with a smirk, "You admitted yourself that basket bidding was part of our early romance. That means you admit those early years were romantic."

She sighed in defeat. "Yes, okay? I can admit it. I was like 28 when I met you and I'm now 49 years-old but I can finally admit to you that yes, all those years I knew something was there and yes, I denied it whenever anyone asked me about it and yes, I knew I was lying when I denied it. Happy?"

"Pretty satisfied with that, yeah."

"Maybe the wedding ring gives me courage."

"So mine keeps away tramps, but yours gives you courage."

She sighed in contentment. "Welcome to the rest of your life, Luke."

"Nothing I haven't already gotten a handle on."

"Let's get something to eat. Then I can have more punch."

"No more punch."

"Fine. Champagne then?"

"Eat first."

Lorelai grabbed his hand. "Deal." They passed by Rory, who was now engaged in a conversation with April, Jess, Liz and TJ. Jess was looking at TJ with a look of confusion. Rory seemed to be holding back a laugh. She smiled at her mother and stepfather and gave them a little wave. Lorelai waved back, then turned to Luke and snorted. "Rory can't drink at our wedding."

"Are you laughing about that?" he asked, amused.

"I'm just saying. And the punch is good tonight."

"She's talking to TJ. She probably wants a drink by now."

"Hey, that's my brother-in-law."

Luke rolled his eyes. "That's my brother in-law, too."

Lorelai frowned. "Oh. Yeah. Huh, that's weird." She looked around at the town square. "You know what's cool about getting married?"

"That the tramps won't stare at me anymore?"

Lorelai gasped and burst out in delighted giggles. "Well, yeah! But also, everyone has a title now. I mean, we were fine not being married. Except for those damn tramps. But it was like, 'Oh this is my…' and then an awkward pause would follow and I'd change it to, 'This is Luke's daughter,' or 'This is Luke's sister.' Now everyone has their title. I've got a sister-in-law. And a brother-in-law. And a niece! And oh my God, Jess is my nephew."

"I have a stepdaughter."

"I'm a stepmother!"

"I have a mother-in-law," Luke said. Lorelai gasped and stared at him for a moment.

"Yeah, ouch. Sorry about that one."

Luke smiled and pulled Lorelai to him by the waist. "I have a wife."

She grinned. "What a coincidence. I'm a wife now. With a husband. I have a husband."

"I'm your husband," Luke said.

Lorelai sighed. "I like this."

"It's not so bad."

"Why didn't we do it sooner?"

Luke snorted. "Let's not even go down that road."

"Hey. Let's forget about the food and cut the cake! I could totally go for some cake right now."

"We can't just cut the cake."

"Why not? It's our wedding and we can do whatever we want. It goes well with punch. Plus, there's like fifteen cakes. Sookie went nuts. They won't care if we cut one."

Luke shrugged, unable to combat that logic. He didn't really care about the cake anyway. "Fine. Let's cut the cake."

"Welcome," Lorelai said with a giggle and a quick kiss, "to the rest of your life."


	2. Chapter 2

Rory wasn't sure what had possessed her to tell her mother the news, today of all days, out there on the steps of the gazebo. She'd hidden her secret for weeks now. She hadn't intended to tell her mother, or anyone for that matter, until after Luke and Lorelai's wedding day had come and gone.

Then her mother and Luke had decided to elope secretly in the middle of the night. Sitting on the gazebo steps the next morning, she got caught up in the nostalgia of it all. Maybe she felt like her mother's wedding had already passed, the look of contentment on her face as they sat on the steps, how her mother kept saying that it felt _right-_ words Rory had never heard her say before with such conviction. Maybe it was the nostalgia. After growing up in this town and watching the two of them orbit around each other for _years_ in that diner, how it had finally led to this (even if the wedding seemed to come _after_ the actual marriage for the two of them). Maybe it was the memories that hit Rory as she looked across the quiet, sleepy town square. There was a sense of peace, the town quiet, Lorelai and Luke finally married. Yet there was a sense of anticipation of the big event that was to come that day. There were memories of a childhood gone well. Memories of walking through the square with her mother, all the town festivals they attended together, the antics that had taken place (devil egging a car, her mother chasing after her singing her pride after two boys got into a fight over her, trudging to dance marathons early in the morning). Now, it was going to be her turn. Only this time, she was going to be the mother. Suddenly, she found herself saying the words she'd been keeping inside.

Throughout the wedding reception that evening, she'd catch eyes with her mother and she just felt different. She was thankful she'd convinced her mother not to focus on it today, with success. Lorelai wasn't letting it taint her day – she'd been drinking punch, mingling with guests, and hanging all over Luke and laughing for the majority of the party. But, she knew. She knew that every time she looked at her mother and they caught eyes, every time she came up to her during the reception, it probably came to the forefront of her mind.

She knew that her mother had told Luke. She hadn't asked her not to tell him. She hadn't told her anything about telling anybody. She knew her mother was always careful with her daughter's private business. She figured that she'd need someone to unload her feelings on about this. Rory knew this would stress her mother – hell, it stressed _her_ , and she knew Luke would talk her down from whatever ledge she might climb up on. Rory knew she'd told him. She could tell by the little glances he was sneaking her way, the careful way he spoke to her, the gentle smiles he'd give her from across the square when they caught eyes.

Her mother would never admit it, but Rory knew she'd fallen for Luke from the very beginning – probably since that first day she went into the diner. Rory remembered the early years, when she was in middle school, of sitting in the diner and watching her mother tease him, attempt to infuriate him and purposely drive him crazy. Honestly, not much had changed. In fact, she remembered the day that her mother first found Luke's Diner. Rory was sitting at the inn doing her homework after school when she'd heard her ask a million prying questions to her new friend, Sookie. _What's up with that diner guy? Duke or whatever?_ _Why's he so grouchy?_ Sookie went on to tell her all about Luke and then Lorelai had shrugged as if she didn't care before she added, "Makes a damn good cup of coffee, though."

As the years went on, the whole town watched. The whole town knew. Rory knew it, too – but she left her mom alone about it. She had never been sure if it was because she didn't want to give her a hard time, or if she was worried that if anything happened they would have to stop going to Luke's, stop having Luke in their life. Probably a combination of both. _And hey_ , Rory thought, she'd been right after all. She remembered a time period when they had to eat at Weston's after her mother and Luke had a big blowout. The break-ups had been after she'd been away at college, but Luke's had become off limits several times after the relationship started (and then ended). Rory clearly recalled an awkward moment involving the words "I'm not usually in a limo." It was everything she would've expected had it gone wrong, but luckily they always ended up making it right again. Lorelai loved to tell the story of how Luke had kept the horoscope she gave him the day they met, but Rory knew the only reason anyone couldn't claim Lorelai had the same feelings since day one was because _she_ hadn't left tangible proof. Her mother had always been in tune enough with her romantic feelings to know when she was attracted to someone. Very few romances came as a surprise to Lorelai Gilmore. There was no way she hadn't felt anything for this man for all those years before they started dating – but she had been good at pretending she didn't.

Maybe that's what surprised Rory the most about the "I think I'm dating Luke" statement so many years later. She wasn't surprised that this was happening. She had been surprised that her mother finally opened her eyes, that after eight years the magic combination of events must have occurred to make this finally happen. She was surprised at her reaction to the whole thing – crashing into tables and doors like a lovesick teenager- when she'd spent so many years in denial.

Luke was the only man she ever remembered even being in their house for many years. He was always there with his tools, fixing whatever happened to be broken. He fixed the leaky sinks, the broken washing machines, he even checked under their porch for termite damage. He fixed broken windows and creaky floorboards and he probably knew more about the structural makeup of their house than any of them. When she was sick, he brought her mashed potatoes. He set up balloons for her in the diner on her sixteenth birthday. When she would study at the diner late, waiting for her mom to get out of business school, he never asked her to give up the whole table she was occupying with books and no food, even in the middle of the dinner rush. When she moved into Yale, not only did he let her mother borrow his truck several times, he came to help move her mattress (several times). He'd given her his mother's necklace for her twenty-first birthday. She'd introduced him to some friends of her grandmother's that night as her "stepfather to be." Little did either of them know then that it would really be many more years before he officially gained that title.

After everything that happened with her mother and Luke, and then her mother and her father, she never pushed her mother about why she and Luke didn't marry. Her grandmother did plenty of that. Sookie did plenty of that. The town did plenty of that (at first – then they seemed to fall into acceptance that they had the next Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn on their hands). Rory questioned her about it once, but then let it be. By all means, her mother and Luke were happy. She watched Lorelai settle into a life she'd never been able to settle into before. Not with Max, not with Christopher. Only with Luke. Neither one of them seemed to need anything more. And though he didn't have the official title until today, she'd begun to think of Luke as her stepfather as soon as he moved in with her mother. It was easy, after all the years of having Luke in their lives already.

Tonight, it was official. But instead of being able to really relish in the joy, she found herself feeling nervous and apprehensive around him, wondering what he thought of her news. She clearly remembered him raging at Logan at her grandparents' vow renewal with as much anger as her own father.

He finally approached her not long into the reception, found her over by the hot dog cart alone.

"Hey," Rory greeted, surprised by his sudden presence. "Congratulations. Again," she said with a small smile.

"Thanks," he said, holding his hand out to her. "Want to dance?"

Rory smiled, letting the apprehension float away for a moment. "Okay. Sure." She took his hand and let him lead her onto the dance floor. "So, how's it feel?" Rory teased as they danced. "You're _really_ stuck with her now. Legally."

Luke chuckled softly. "I've been stuck with her a long time already. Legal or not."

Rory laughed a little and glanced across the square over Luke's shoulder to catch sight of her mother, talking to Patty and Babette, probably swiping another serving of punch. "That's probably very true." A moment passed before Rory added, "She's so happy." Luke nodded and Rory added, "I always knew. I always knew it would be you. Since the beginning. Do you remember when I was sick with chicken pox?"

Luke did, very clearly. It wasn't long after he first met Lorelai and Rory, though they'd been in Stars Hollow years already. Lorelai had come by ordering mashed potatoes in bulk. He'd argued with her about how much he could give her until she explained it was for Rory who was sick with chicken pox and didn't want to eat anything else.

"Yeah. Your mom tried to make you mashed potatoes, but she claimed they were soggy and lumpy all at once."

Rory laughed, the visual of her mother's mashed potatoes still clear in her mind. " _They were_. I don't know how she did that."

"Me either," Luke laughed, imagining it.

"And you brought mashed potatoes to me every day for a week. One day when you left, she just stared at the door with this look on her face. I'd never seen it before. Like appreciation and adoration and love all at once. But I've seen it plenty since then. It always had to do with you. You were so patient with her. You waited forever. Even now."

Luke pulled away from Rory ever so slightly to look into her eyes, and she knew it was coming. She felt her stomach dip in nervousness as she waited for him to broach the subject. "I'm not going to say anything more about this today, or ever, unless you ask for my advice. But we're here for you. I'm here for you. Whatever you need. Just know that, okay? And if you want mashed potatoes every day, or whatever you want… you've got it."

Rory felt her eyes fill with tears, despite her best efforts not to cry. Twenty years later and this man was still caring for her the same way he had when she was eleven, he'd been in her life with more consistency than her own father ever had. _Damn hormones_ , she thought. "Thank you."

The thing was, she already knew. She already knew both her mother, and Luke, would be there for her through this whole ordeal. It was more than she could say for her own father, or even the baby's father, one of whom would definitely offer up money as a solution, the other possibly would offer up money as at least part of a solution. She knew Logan had his dynastic plan, and she wasn't going to pull him away from that. She clearly remembered her father's parents insisting that Lorelai had ruined her father's life by taking him down with her when she got pregnant. Her father seemed to wander aimlessly since. He had two daughters he rarely saw, one living in another country, two failed relationships with the mothers of his children, and a relationship with a woman to whom being together with was simply a "Why not?" He'd only now, at nearly fifty, settled into the family business. She had no idea what Logan's reaction would even be to this news, but she had agreed with one thing her dad had said: it was meant to be her and her mother, always. She completely feared telling her grandmother. While Emily and Rory had a far different relationship than Emily and Lorelai, and Rory was not sixteen, she knew her grandmother wasn't fond of her recent life choices and instability and she knew this was going to feel a lot like history repeating to Emily. She knew Emily could be judgmental, especially when taken by surprise with big news like this.

But from her mom and Luke she knew she would get love and support.

She already knew that her baby would see Luke as its grandfather – there was no other way. She knew her father wasn't going to be around. She barely had any idea if Logan was going to be around, let alone his _father_. Luke was going to end up being grandpa number one, always there by her mother's side, the one the baby knew and loved and felt bonded to in the way she had been with her mother's father.

And she was content with that.


	3. Chapter 3

The wedding was a whirlwind. The evening went on and guests disappeared, some rather early due to it being a Sunday evening, and Lorelai found herself actually able to engage with those who mattered most to her, finally, now that she didn't have to make small talk with her mother's friends and her distant cousins and the townies she rarely engaged with.

She'd lost Luke somewhere along the way – maybe he was off socializing with his mysterious friend Kiefer that she'd yet to see appear at their wedding – but she suddenly set her sights on the next closest thing.

"Hey, " she greeted her finally-official stepdaughter with a grin, only slightly tipsy – just enough to be happy and cheerful.

She couldn't quite believe that April was twenty-two, a college graduate working on her masters degree. The moment she first laid eyes on her future stepdaughter was one she'd never quite forget. In the past, that moment had been burned into her brain due to the shock and betrayal of it all. As years passed she chose to change the meaning of the moment to one of nostalgia, thankful for how clearly she could remember it, how from the very first instant looking into April's eyes had seemed so familiar.

After getting back together with Luke all those years ago, her biggest fear had been how he would react to her getting to know April. She feared that despite everything, things might just still be the same, and she worried about what she was going to do if that was the case. But without missing a beat, the day she came into town from New Mexico the first time post-reconciliation he invited her to the diner to have lunch with him and April. Since then, everything had been fine. She'd treaded lightly, always careful of her boundaries. She knew how Anna had felt last time and was careful not to overstep especially given she wasn't officially _stepmother_ until today. Due to the physical distance those first few years, she didn't see April much. But she was always there for either Thanksgiving or Christmas, usually for her spring break and often parts of the summer. Once she began at MIT, she was much closer and "home" became Stars Hollow to April. When she got frustrated with her roommate and said, "I'm going home for the weekend," home was Luke and Lorelai's house. When she moved out of her dorm in the spring and told her friends, "It's going to be a pain to lug all this home," home was Stars Hollow. She still went to New Mexico to spend time with her mother, and she was much like Rory in that she was always involved in some program or soaking up an opportunity to travel somewhere.

"Hiiii," April greeted, smoothing down her bridesmaid dress. "You having fun?"

"Tons. I should've had this wedding years ago."

April laughed a little, understanding the joke. She loved Lorelai. She'd liked her, before. She'd saved her thirteenth birthday party. Then she'd disappeared without much information from her father, even when she asked about it. Though she'd quickly figured out that this woman was full of sarcasm and jokes – something she wasn't quite as adept at – they'd managed to find their own language. Still, sometimes they muddled through conversations when one of them was confused by the other one's dry wit.

"Past time, Kid."

April shrugged. "I just started telling people you were my stepmother years ago anyway. It was easier than explaining the whole thing."

"I may have done the same once or twice," Lorelai admitted. She recalled one specific day that they helped her move in to MIT for her sophomore year. She had instantly introduced herself to April's new roommate as her stepmother and it wasn't until the roommate repeated it to someone else that she'd even realized what she'd said.

"You told people I was your stepmother?"

"You know what I mean," she said with a laugh.

"It's funny. I thought you were going to be my stepmother when I was twelve. Now here I am twenty-two and it's only _now_ happening."

"If I've learned anything in my years on this planet, it's that everything happens in its own due time," Lorelai lamented philosophically.

"Yeah, I guess so," April agreed as she watched Lorelai fiddle with her wedding dress for a moment before she added, "I'm sorry."

Her stepmother didn't pay much mind to her words as she finished plucking at her dress before looking up at her with a frown. "For what?"

"Back then. You know."

Lorelai groaned in a playful manner and said, "Sometimes you really are your father's daughter. More words. Sorry for what? Back when?"

"… if I hadn't come then, when I did… you and Dad would've been married ten years already."

Lorelai shook her head, the slight buzz wearing off momentarily and sobering her, realizing what April was talking about. It struck her as strange, suddenly, that she and April had never had this conversation in the past nine years. "No."

April quirked an eyebrow. "No? If I hadn't come, you would've gotten married in 2006."

Lorelai fumbled for the right words, not wanting to say the wrong thing. "Well, yes, we probably would have," she agreed, remembering all the plans she had made for June 3 of that year. If Luke hadn't asked to postpone the wedding due to April's arrival, they probably would've married – assuming of course, some other monumental issue didn't throw them off track before then. "I don't know that it would've gone very well," she admitted. "We weren't ready back then. If we _had_ been ready back then, then we wouldn't have broken up. We had a lot of issues that would've gotten in our way." April shrugged, as if she wasn't sure she believed her and gave her a soft smile. "And it wasn't your fault. It was ours."

"Yeah, but – "

"Hey, Honey, end of story. It was our fault. All of it. And if I could choose between that awful breakup and delaying the wedding or having married on schedule ten years ago, I wouldn't change a thing if it means having you in our lives. It never had anything to do with _you_ and it was not _your_ fault we weren't strong enough to get through the first true hurdle life threw at us as a couple. You are an amazing addition to this family and I am _honored_ to have you as my stepdaughter. My daughter."

April felt her eyes fill with tears and she waved her hand in front of her face. Since Lorelai and her dad had never married, the terms stepmother and stepdaughter were not commonly uttered. Here this woman was, dropping the _step_ and going to _daughter_. She knew what Lorelai and Rory's relationship was. Daughter was a big, important word in Lorelai's world. "I can't cry. My makeup. This is why I hate makeup. God, I don't _cry_." She took a moment to compose herself before she went on. "Do you remember my thirteenth birthday party?"

"Do I ever," Lorelai laughed. She remembered the thrill and temporary positive outlook that came along with finally getting to spend time with April and how happy she had been to have finally broken through Luke's walls. She remembered the fallout from the party, too, and the sudden rush of disappointment, anxiety, and fear. She'd gone from feeling happy and relieved to fearing that it was the beginning of the end for her and Luke in no time. Still, the actual party was a fond memory for both of them. Lorelai was thankful she had that memory with April, the only memory from _before_. There was more than a year between then and when she spent time with April again. The girl had grown in many ways during that time, ears pierced, hair straightened, new glasses, and a certain maturity that she hadn't seen in the twelve going on thirteen year-old April.

"That was still the best birthday party I've ever had," April laughed fondly. "Some of those girls – they still remember it."

"Better than twenty-one?"

"I don't remember a lot of twenty-one," April admitted with a raise of her eyebrows.

"Yeah. Rory and I stepped up our game the second time around. We remembered wayyyy too much of _her_ twenty-first birthday celebration in Atlantic City."

"I don't think Dad was too pleased with the stripper stories."

"Eh, he never is. But it was worth it. There's only two girls I've ever taken to Atlantic City."

"I know. I'm honored."

"Hey. Question." April nodded. "And be honest. Does your dad _really_ know Keifer Sutherland?"


	4. Chapter 4

For someone who had wanted, so desperately, at one point to be married to Luke, during the second go around Lorelai had done everything possible to ignore that desire and push it into the back of her mind. She'd truly thought she didn't need to ever marry him. And really, after everything they had been through, after living their lives together as partners the past nine years, it _was_ more symbolic than anything else. Maybe that symbolism meant more than she had realized. Maybe it was about removing the blurry lines for everyone else, for tying things up in a neat package, for connecting their lives in the ways where they were still separate, for being able to use the terms _husband_ and _wife_. But this time the actual marriage _was_ less of the focus than the actual relationship, the bond they had, which is probably how it should've been ten years ago.

But because of this, because of how for so many years they'd never considered doing this, how she'd buried the desire so far in the back of her mind, the fact that she was waking up _married_ to _Luke_ was so hard to believe.

The morning after the wedding the sun was shining brightly by the time Lorelai awoke. She stirred carefully, realizing Luke was still in bed next to her. Everything felt the same, but then it all rushed back to her suddenly. _They were married_. They had gotten married yesterday. _Twice_. She glanced down at her hand to admire the rings – despite her previous engagements and marriage, she had never worn both a wedding band _and_ an engagement ring together before - then rolled over to face Luke.

She wasn't surprised to find that he was awake. She wasn't even really surprised that he was still in bed, though it was long past the time he usually rose, even when he had the day off.

"Hey there, husband. Good morning," she greeted him with a grin.

He gave her a brilliant grin and a soft kiss. "Morning."

"Can you believe yesterday really happened?" she asked with a sigh of contentment, reaching for his hand and running her finger over his wedding band. She'd never seen Luke wear a ring before. "It's so crazy. Like, here we are, the same as always, but now we're married."

The reception had gone into the early morning hours before they finally cut out, leaving the younger generation of Stars Hollow to continue the party on their own. April spent the night at the apartment over the diner and Rory had left, declaring that she was going to head to Nantucket with Emily for a few days.

 _Rory_.

Luke noticed the change of expression on Lorelai's face and knew immediately that not only had the wedding come rushing back to her, but her daughter's big news had, too.

"You okay?" he asked her gently. "About Rory, I mean."

She frowned, thinking about his question. _Was_ she okay about this? She'd managed to put it out of her mind most of the day after Rory had told her, distracted by her wedding. During the reception she'd brought it up lightheartedly several times to Luke, but the punch allowed her to feel care free. Now she was completely sober and the reality of it all was a little harsher than it had been the night before through punch goggles.

"Yeah. I guess so. It's just so… it's hard to process _._ This is real."

Luke nodded, understanding. "I know. Sometimes it still feels like she's twelve years old."

"Right. But she's thirty-three. That's the thing. Why should I feel weird about this when she's thirty-three?" she sighed, thinking it over. "I mean, I guess because she doesn't have a steady job, she doesn't have an apartment, she's not even in a committed relationship. It's _almost like_ she's sixteen. It's not what I would've wanted for her."

"She'll figure it out," Luke assured her, giving her arm a comforting rub. "She's _not_ sixteen, she's got a college degree and various work experience and a good head on her shoulders. And she's got this book thing. At least she's got an idea of where she's going. She couldn't do all that if she was only sixteen."

"True." Lorelai sighed, realizing what else was bothering her. "But… she went to Nantucket with Mom. Is she running away from me?"

"No, I think she was running away from being here on our wedding night," Luke teased. "And she probably just needs time. It's peaceful there."

"It's just _a lot_ to process."

"I know, believe me. But she's got this. We'll help her," Luke assured her. "Whatever she needs. If she wants to live here, with us. We can help her with the baby if she needs it. Or she can have the apartment, whenever she's ready for that. If she does this on her own, I mean. She won't really be alone."

Lorelai stared at him momentarily before leaning forward to give him a kiss. "I _knew_ I married you for a reason."

"Took you long enough," he teased and she laughed as she kissed him again, realizing that she had to agree with him.

When Lorelai woke up one day a few days later, she went downstairs for coffee and found Rory at the kitchen table reading the newspaper and nursing a bowl of cereal. She was drinking tea. _Right. She can't have caffeine_ , Lorelai realized. But _tea_? Not _decaf_ , at least? Who was this woman?

"Hey!" Rory greeted brightly, smiling up at her mother when she entered the room. Lorelai felt relieved to see that she seemed to be in good spirits. Though they had spoken to each other while she was in Nantucket, she was relieved to _see_ that she looked good. Even more than that, she seemed happy to see her mother. Maybe Luke had been right, and she hadn't been running away from her.

"Hi, Hon. Welcome home!" Lorelai moved to greet her daughter with a hug and a kiss on the head. "How was Nantucket?"

"It was nice. Grandma's really happy there, Mom. She's got Berta and her family there. She goes and walks along the beach. Oh and she gives tours at the _whaling museum_. She puts on this amazingly dark lecture about whaling. I don't know, she was so passionate about it but it was _so_ terrifying."

Lorelai laughed, somehow completely able to picture it. "That's Emily Gilmore in a nutshell, kiddo."

Rory nodded her agreement and added, "Oh, it was just so great to see her there. She was thriving. I think selling the house and moving there was definitely the right thing for her. She's in a new season of life now, after Grandpa. I'm so relieved to see that."

Lorelai nodded her agreement. Though things had been tense between her and her mother in the year since her father's passing, things had been getting better between them since the moment at the vista and the engagement. She knew that her mom had been having a rough go of it since her father passed, and she knew she hadn't been too much support. She was glad to hear the positive report from Rory. She knew that she and Luke had a Christmas visit to Nantucket coming up. She'd have to get her mind wrapped around _that_ soon enough.

"And you. You're so happy, too. You're married, and it's to _Luke_ , and you're still glowing. You're still happy, right?"

Lorelai laughed. "Yes. Still happy."

"It's just so nice to see the two of you happy and settled."

"And… you?" Lorelai asked softly, pouring a cup of coffee from the coffee pot that had been brewed and left for her. Though he'd give her grief about her caffeine habits until the day she died, Luke would always be an enabler.

Rory sighed and looked down at her tea. "I'm… a mess," she laughed. "I'm all over the place, trying to figure this out. Look at this, you've got everything together and now I'm…" She looked at her mother's face and added, "I'm okay though. I'm processing. I've processed. I'm going to be a mother."

There were those words again, the ones Lorelai still hadn't fully come to process herself.

"What about… Logan?" Lorelai had been afraid to broach the subject. Since confirming to her that Logan was the father, Rory had not mentioned his name again, not that day, not through the texts and phone calls they had exchanged while she was in Nantucket. "Have you talked to him?"

"No. I don't know what to do about him," Rory sighed. "I have to tell him. How do I tell him? Over the phone? That seems so tacky but he's across the country. What do I even _say_? We said goodbye. We haven't spoken since. It's so ironic, you know? Right when we said it's time to end this…" She put her head in her hands. "He's engaged, Mom. He's getting married to someone else."

Lorelai was all too aware of that fact, but she kept her mouth shut about it. Rory was an adult. When Rory was nineteen and having an affair with a married man, she spoke up. At nineteen, she still felt Rory was in need of her guidance. When she was doing the same thing at thirty-two, she was a grown woman who knew what she was doing. She knew her opinions wouldn't make anything better. She had learned to save those for late night venting to Luke, unless Rory absolutely needed to hear them, in order to prevent another feud between the two of them.

Rory went on, "This is just, it's going to lead to a _lot_ of destruction. His engagement, his family. His dynastic plan. This would ruin all of that."

"I think he took that risk when he started sleeping with another woman on the side." Maybe her opinions snuck in there sometimes.

"I know. _I know_. I talked to Dad," Rory changed course suddenly.

"You told him?" Lorelai was surprised to hear this revelation. Rory had been fairly distant from her father in the years since the divorce. She'd been busy and on the road most of the time, and neither she nor Christopher really seemed to have an interest in reaching out to the other. Her visits to Connecticut were reserved for sneaking in visits with Lorelai and Luke and her grandparents, even Lane. Her father didn't seem to make the cut.

"No. I didn't. I just kind of… grilled him? I don't know. He bought me a large coffee that I didn't take a sip of and I asked him a bunch of questions about how he felt about you raising me on your own. I was trying to process, figure out what to do, I guess. He said that that's the way it was meant to be."

Lorelai gave a little snort. "Of course he did."

"But don't you think he's kind of right?" Rory asked with a quirk of her eyebrow. "Was it ever meant to be anything other than just you and me? Could you imagine it being any other way?"

"I don't know, Rory. It _feels_ like that was what was meant to be. But maybe that's just because that's how it worked out. Was it great? Sure. I have no regrets. But that doesn't mean it was how it was destined to be. It's just how it played out."

"It's just, we said _goodbye_ , for good reasons. He's getting married. He's finally in a good place with his family. This is just going to throw his whole life off course. I'm okay with doing this on my own."

Lorelai wasn't sure where this was going, but she was sensing that Rory had already resigned herself to doing this alone, being a single mother like her own mother had been. Which was good, being that she _was_ single and the father _did_ live on another continent. Even if he wanted to be involved, he probably wouldn't be around all the time. What worried her were the hints Rory was dropping that he'd be better off without this ruining his life.

This was one of the times she had to voice her opinions.

"I hate to point this out to you, Hon, but the kinds of things you're saying here sound an awful lot like something another woman thought twenty-two years ago that led to Luke missing out on twelve years of his daughter's life."

" _I know_ ," Rory admitted guiltily, biting her lip, ashamed for even slightly thinking of keeping this from Logan. "I know. You don't think I've been thinking about that, too? But that was different. Luke wasn't cheating on a fiancée with Anna when she got pregnant."

"He had a kid out there and she thought he didn't want to know. That it would ruin his life. He did want to know. Maybe Logan does, too. Don't take that from him."

She sighed. "Yeah. I know." There was silence for a moment, before Lorelai decided to change the topic, figuring Rory would let the words sink in.

"What's with the tea, anyway?"

Rory grinned at her as she took a sip from her mug. "Luke."

 _Of course_.

As the days, weeks, went by, Lorelai began to adjust to their new reality. On the one hand, she was riding the thrill of being newly married to Luke. On the other hand, she had the reality of the title of 'Grandma' looming over her head. She'd always, _always_ supported Rory, no matter what. This would be no different. Having gone through this situation herself, at sixteen, she couldn't really judge. Not to mention, she knew how hard it was and how much support would've helped if it hadn't been presented in a suffocating manner. So in the weeks that followed she pushed any nagging worries out of the way and adjusted to what was to come.

She'd spent many years with Rory out of the house, traveling the world, not even in the same time zone. Many years it had been just her and Luke and now, Rory was back. She'd been back on and off since the beginning of the summer but now she was there more permanently without the desire to couch surf between home and Lane's and Paris's. Now Rory was home again, all the time, _and_ she had Luke, and it suddenly dawned on her that living in this house with these two people had mostly been in two separate times of her life, and now for this act, they'd merged.

Thanksgiving was a lot different this year than it had been the year before.

The year prior, her father's passing had been just over two months earlier. By Thanksgiving, she and her mother hadn't spoken since the day of her father's funeral. Rory had called home the week before with the glum tone of voice that Lorelai always knew meant she wasn't coming home for a holiday, and April was spending that particular Thanksgiving in New Mexico with her mother.

Luke had pestered her several times about calling her mother. _It's Thanksgiving, Lorelai. She's alone this year_. Lorelai had refused him, but little did he know, she'd tried to reach out. She'd sent emails, but her mother wouldn't answer. She had no idea what her mother would do for Thanksgiving, without her father, without her and Rory. But she figured that one of her friends took her in, looking out for her after her loss.

What she'd realized that Thanksgiving, more than ever, was that Luke was _it_. Everyone else would flit in and out of her life around their own lives: Rory, April, her mother, Sookie, even. Somewhere along the way Luke had become her entire support system. And those months, he'd had his job cut out for him as he tried to figure out her grieving process and support her through her father's death when she didn't have anyone else around to support her, really. Some days she was up for his support, other times she snapped at him for things like trying to get her to talk to her mother. He hadn't seemed to falter in supporting her, or in understanding that it was all part of her processing her emotions about her father's death.

This year was different. After nearly nine years of living with Luke, she wouldn't have guessed last year that _this_ Thanksgiving would be the year they would be married. She never would have imagined that Rory would be pregnant and living at home with them. Luke convinced her to invite her mother for dinner, and she was surprised when she had accepted the invitation – something she was dreading with every fiber of her being. She had _never_ had a Thanksgiving with her parents anywhere but their house. Though it was true Emily was not the same woman she once was, she was worried about her opinions on a small, low-key, Stars Hollow Thanksgiving. April was with them this year, too – though by all accounts she was an adult now, she seemed to still automatically abide by the custody arrangement she'd had to follow from thirteen to eighteen: every other Thanksgiving and Christmas with her father. Maybe she figured it was the only way to be fair.

She hadn't known she was even going to do it. They'd had dinner early, more of a lunch, so that Emily could return to Nantucket that night. She complained as usual that Lorelai and Luke had a house that was much too small for having two children and "definitely no room for your own mother," and that she had to get back anyhow since she had a shift at the museum the next day.

Rory had vanished into her room after Emily's departure, April sitting with Lorelai and Luke in the living room watching the _Home Alone_ marathon. Luke was griping as usual about how it made no sense that they could just _forget_ the kid, when Rory came storming out of her room.

The noise caused all three of them to look up. Rory stood in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, holding her cell phone in her hand.

"Something wrong, Hon?" Lorelai asked, carefully, knowing something clearly was.

"You see!" she fumed, waving her hands around in an emotional flurry. "I told you I shouldn't even tell him. He's _not_ Luke."

Luke frowned at the mention of his name, confused. Lorelai seemed to begin to understand, piecing the small bits of information back to the conversation they had had a few weeks ago and the phone in Rory's hand. "You told Logan," Lorelai stated, mostly so that Luke and April would understand what was going on.

"Yes! I told him! Because I didn't want to do to _him_ what was done to _Luke_ ," Luke and April both looked down, pretending to be distracted. "Do you _know_ what he said?"

There was a long pause, as if she was waiting for someone to actually answer what everyone had thought was a rhetorical question. April seemed to be the only one brave enough, looking up from her fake distraction. "No?"

"He said, 'That's fine. Do you need money?' He asked me if I _needed money_. That was his big solution to the whole thing. And then suddenly all I could think is that he was acting just like _Dad_ ," Rory spat the name as if it was an insult, turning on her heels and returning to her room, slamming the door.

Luke and Lorelai sat still, surprised into shock. April looked at them, wondering how bad of a freak out this was.

"I should talk to her," Lorelai said finally, getting up from the couch.

When she opened the door to Rory's room, Rory was lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. "He is like Dad, you know," Rory stated.

Lorelai lingered in the doorway for a moment and then pushed off it and into the room, gently sitting down on Rory's bed. "I know," she agreed gently.

"You've always know that, haven't you?" Rory asked, turning to look at her mother. "You always saw that. That's why you were against me and him at first."

"Not necessarily," Lorelai admitted. "I mean, there were some similarities. I noticed the similar reckless abandonment tendencies, sure. You have to remember my first impressions of him were bringing you home drunk in a limo and making out with him at my parents' vow renewal. I hoped they wouldn't lead you down the same path I went down, but… well, here we are."

Rory let out a breath, her eyes glassy with tears. "I went to visit Dad at his new office. He calls it 'The Cave.' Because he finally 'caved' and is working in the family business. And Logan? Spent years trying to break free of his family obligations only to end up right back in the family business and go along with the stupid Dynastic Plan. Then of course both think money fixes everything. Dad offered up money while I was there, too. For what, I don't even know."

"So, sure, they have some similarities…"

"They both cheat. He cheated on Odette with me. Dad cheated on Sherry with you."

"Okay-"

"Actually, he technically cheated on me, too..."

"Rory-"

"You don't get it, Mom. I know what it's like. My baby's going to have a Christopher for a father. One that's hardly around, who pops in and out, grandparents who don't approve of its existence because it ruined their son's life. Sound familiar?"

Lorelai sighed and said, "Hon, I get it. Believe me, _I_ of all people _get it_. And maybe that's how it will play out, but maybe _not_. The point is you did the right thing telling him and now how involved he gets is on him, not you. And if he does end up being a father like you think? Then fine. You and the baby will survive. _We_ did."

"The worst part is I kind of get why Anna did it now," Rory said softly so that neither Luke nor April would overhear her. "It's easier to figure the kid's dad isn't around because you never told him then to think he just doesn't want to be."

"You don't know what kind of father he's going to be yet. Let's just take things a day at a time. Maybe he'll realize he wants to be involved. And if not, maybe it's like you said, then maybe it really _is_ just meant to be just you and your baby. And it'll never really be just the two of you. You've got me and Luke and April and Grandma… this baby's going to have plenty of family. _You've_ got plenty of family. And look. If it turns out he's your Christopher, you just have to wait for your Luke. He'll come. One day at a time."

Rory nodded. "Maybe it's this book thing," she said with a sigh. "Everything's fresh in my brain right now. I'm revisiting my childhood and meanwhile I'm thinking of _my_ child's childhood… man, that's weird."

Lorelai kissed her daughter on the forehead and they changed the topic to lighter things, like how Emily hadn't even complained once of eating Thanksgiving dinner in the kitchen.

Luke awoke around two in the morning, to hear the TV on downstairs. Frowning, he glanced at the clock. April had left hours ago to the apartment above the diner. Rory had come back out to the living room not long after Lorelai had consoled her after her freak out to apologize and say goodnight.

He went downstairs to investigate, only to find Rory watching TV on the couch. _Home Alone_ was still on. Wasn't Thanksgiving over, technically?

She glanced up when she saw him on the landing. "Sorry. Did I wake you?"

"No," he told her truthfully. "You okay? It's late."

"I couldn't sleep," she said, hitting the volume button on the remote to turn the sound down so she could talk to Luke. "Too much going on in my brain. I just kept thinking, I figured mindless TV was better than thinking." She glanced at the TV for a few moments, then turned back to Luke. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." He came down the remaining steps and waited.

"What do you think of Logan's reaction?" she looked down at the remote and picked at a button. "As someone who's kind of been through this from his side of things. Only no one _told_ you."

Luke sighed and sat down next to Rory on the couch, realizing this was a deeper question than he'd expected. "I think… I think it's complicated," he said slowly. "It's not all clearly black and white."

"But, I mean… I told him he was going to be a father, and he just brushed it off like a monetary obligation."

"I'm sure you caught him by surprise," Luke reminded her. "He didn't say he wants no part of this. Maybe he just needs to process. Guys like him… like your dad…" Lorelai had told him enough of her earlier conversation with Rory for him to know where her head was, "money is a huge part of their world. To them, sometimes it is the solution."

Rory nodded, then laughed a little, bitterly. "I don't know _what_ I thought. Maybe I was hoping he was going to tell me he was leaving the fiancée and coming to be with me and the baby. I don't know, that sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? But short of _that_ being his response, I don't know what else I could've been hoping for. Offering money was at least… something."

"You did the right thing," Luke assured her. "If you want my opinion as someone who's been through something like this, you did the right thing. I wish I'd had the chance to know about April since the beginning. If that's what you're asking."

Rory nodded quietly. "Yeah. I guess so."

"Let him process. You know how finding out about April affected me." Rory raised her eyebrows at him in understanding, and they both laughed. "Immediate reactions are just that. Big news like this, it changes your life. It just takes over you and consumes you. The way you react is totally out of your control. I never meant to hurt your mom. I regret how I handled that every day. Logan's probably reeling right now, too. First reactions aren't always the ones we want to have."

Rory bit her lip and chanced a glance at her stepfather. "He's engaged, Luke. I have to prepare myself for the fact that there's nothing more that might come of this. He might choose to keep that life and ignore all this."

"And if he does, you'll be fine. You know that."

Rory nodded. "Yeah. I guess you're right." She smiled at Luke and added, "I'm getting used to the tea. Thanks."

"The one I leave you on Fridays has the _tiniest_ bit of caffeine in it. Less than a soda. Don't tell your mom. She'll never let me live it down."

Rory snickered. "I wouldn't dare."


	5. Chapter 5

The second trimester was where it got ugly.

It was like all the hormones, morning sickness, and cravings kicked in at once.

Lorelai remembered she had been fairly lucky with her own pregnancy with Rory. She hadn't been sick much – which is why she was able to hide it as long as she did – mostly she had nausea, if anything. She didn't recall being particularly hormonal, but she _was_ a sixteen year-old girl. She was _already_ hormonal on a regular basis before she'd gotten pregnant. Cravings were common, but food cravings were always common with Lorelai. She had more of a 'want to eat all the time' kind of craving, though she did crave apples with Rory which had been fairly unusual.

For Rory, it was the food aversions. Ironically enough, coffee was the first thing to hit her. She walked out of her bedroom one morning to find Lorelai drinking her morning coffee, only to gag, cover her mouth, and run to the restroom ( _Now I understand what Kirk means about the downstairs restroom,_ Rory had thought). She'd chalked it up to regular old simple morning sickness. When she returned and got another whiff of the coffee and the whole scenario repeated, she realized what it was.

"Mom! You have to pour that coffee out!" she said, hand covering her mouth.

"The _coffee_ is making you sick?" Lorelai asked, aghast. "My grandchild has betrayed me!"

"Mom!"

"Okay! Okay!" she dumped her coffee down the sink, along with the rest of the pot, running the water after it to make sure the smell was flushed down the drain. "Well, this is going to be interesting," she muttered to herself as Rory returned to her bedroom. She left her daughter and trudged off to the diner to get some coffee before work.

Next, it was the smell of syrup and cinnamon. She'd discovered the cinnamon aversion after an attempt at toasting brown sugar cinnamon PopTarts.

Two days later in the diner, the smell of syrup caused her to take off running upstairs to the apartment. Luke looked to Lorelai, confused. "What happened?"

She shrugged. "She's having crazy food aversions lately."

He frowned, worried he'd forgotten something. "What is it? The coffee again?"

"No, she's past that." _Thank God_ , Lorelai thought. Not only had she been unable to have a pot of coffee in the house for a week (luckily she had a coffee maker at the inn and a husband that owned a diner), they'd had to avoid the diner, too. "Yesterday it was cinnamon. _I_ don't smell cinnamon today though. But who knows, she's got the scent of a bloodhound right now." Luke looked from his wife back to the stairs in concern, ignoring the breakfast goers who were eager for refills from the coffee pot in his hand. "Hey," at her voice, he looked back at Lorelai. "Hi."

He smiled at her, realizing he hadn't had a chance to greet her (or Rory) upon their arrival. "Hey," he said, giving her a kiss.

"You left early today," she noted with a frown. "Earlier than usual."

"Yeah. I had to open last minute. Did I wake you?"

"No. I just missed you." Over the years, Luke had stopped opening the diner and waiting for early deliveries, passing the less desirable schedule to his younger and newer employees. Though he still usually left for work earlier than Lorelai, they usually had moments of passing in the morning.

Rory returned, looking less pale, but somewhat cautious as she sniffed the air. "Hey, Hon. You okay?" Lorelai asked, pulling her chair out for her as she sat.

"I'll get you some water," Luke added, hurrying towards the kitchen.

"Yeah. It's just the syrup," she said right as Cesar zoomed by with a plate of pancakes. "Oh, yeah. It's the syrup. I should just go," she realized, grabbing her purse and running out the door.

Luke came back with a glass of water for Rory who was already out the door and looked at Lorelai, who shrugged again. "Syrup," she said apologetically.

" _Syrup_?" he asked, seemingly aghast at the thought.

"Yeah. Go figure. She has to have aversions to _everything_ on the menu in the diner."

"Okay, that's it! No more syrup in the diner!" Luke announced to his customers. Kirk, who was at the counter, turned and gaped at him. The few customers who weren't regulars looked at him, confused. "If you've got syrup, take it to go! On the house! No more syrup. You can have whipped cream or jam! Cesar! Put up a sign that says we're no longer serving syrup!" Luke turned to Lorelai. "Go get her. Tell Rory to come back in."

"Babe, this is crazy," Lorelai said as she watched two people pack up their pancakes into the styrofoam to-go box they had been handed and leave the diner. _No questions asked_ , she noticed. What was wrong with these people? "You can't ban syrup from the _diner_!"

"I _can_ and I have," Luke declared. "Done." Cesar plastered up a hand written sign that stated _No syrup until further notice!_ and put it up next to the no cell phones sign. "Rory needs somewhere to go for breakfast. We all know neither of you are going to cook breakfast. What the hell's the benefit of having the diner owner be your stepfather if he doesn't ban syrup when it makes you sick?"

Lorelai laughed, her eyes filled with love as she watched her husband. "Well, you got me there," she stood and kissed him on the lips quickly before heading out to look for her daughter.

They had been together, steadily, nearing ten years now. Before that, they'd had two years together and then they had that year of angst in between, which was still a part of their history. She'd never forget the things they went through that year together, though they were apart. They had eight years of friendship prior to that. The things they had been through together, the moments they had shared, the life events they had weathered (though, some of them not so gracefully) together had become many by now. Now, they were newly married and life still kept throwing crazy journeys at them as they navigated this life that was currently revolving around Rory's pregnancy. It wasn't how she had imagined their newlywed, first year of marriage life to be. Then again, for years she had never even imagined a newlywed, first year of marriage life with Luke. It was all a journey.

After the food aversions, it was the mood swings. Rory stopped complaining about food bothering her, but everything else everyone did seemed to start bothering her. She would either cry about it or yell about it, and no one was quite sure when the moods would change or what would prompt the moods to change.

Lorelai entered the diner one Thursday evening when Luke was working late, letting the door slam behind her.

"Hey," Luke greeted, cautiously, noticing her mood as he looked up from the counter where he was replacing the coffee pot. "What are you doing here?"

"Great, not you too," she mumbled as she sat down on a stool at the counter.

"Huh?" he was puzzled, as he often was at Lorelai's comments. However these days, with everything going on with Rory, he often found himself more confused than usual. Things changed at lightning speed and he was always trying to keep up. Now he lived with not one, but two women who could banter faster than any other.

"I had to get away from her!" Lorelai finally admitted in a hushed exclamation. "Her mood swings! Everything I say to her she's grouchy and grumpy. Admit it. You _wanted_ to work late tonight and get away from her! I know it!" she narrowed her eyes at him in mock accusation.

Luke shook his head and laughed. "I'll admit no such thing."

"Luke!" she laughed in return, feeling suddenly lighter thanks to his presence. "How could you leave me to deal with her mood swings all on my own?"

"It's not her fault," Luke reminded her with a shrug, the ever patient and diplomatic Luke that he was. Sometimes, Lorelai was beginning to notice, he had more patience with Rory than she did.

"I know. I know it's not. But my God, I walked in the house and she appeared out of nowhere to snap at me for closing the door too loudly! Then I opened the fridge and she claimed that the smell of leftover pizza was making her sick."

"It's pizza now?"

"No, no. Not just pizza. _Leftover_ pizza," she clarified. "Not regular, fresh pizza. Only leftover pizza."

"It's just a phase," Luke tried to appease her as he wiped down the counter in front of her. He had to admit, he'd noticed Rory's mood swings being more intense lately and he had tried to stay out of her way for the most part, unsure of what would upset her next.

"Then, _then_ , she snaps at me because I asked her how her day was. I guess I didn't learn my lesson on trying to engage her in conversation, because five minutes later I ask her if she's hungry and she snaps at me about the smell of the pizza again, how it made her sick and no she's not hungry. Then she said she wanted to order freakin' pizza." She threw her head down on top of her arms in a dramatic flare. "I just needed some space."

"She got mad at me this morning for making too much noise closing the door, too," Luke admitted with a chuckle. "Oh, also, Paul Anka started barking and she started crying."

"See! Now I don't feel so alone. How could you leave me?" she teased, giving him a pout.

"I really had to work tonight," he insisted, squeezing her hand. "Cesar has the night off."

"But you weren't too torn up over it," Lorelai accused, then sighed. "I hate feeling like this. I know she's dealing with _a lot_ and a lot of it's just hormonal, but man." She'd never, in her life, ever vented about Rory to _anyone,_ not even to Luke until recently. Even when she had felt frustrated with her daughter, she still felt protective of her and felt guilty when complaining about her to anyone else. She felt a sense of freedom, being able to unload the frustrations she found herself having with her daughter lately on her husband, knowing it was a safe space. He loved Rory. He knew how much _she_ loved Rory and that he'd never take it the wrong way.

"Well, you're always welcome here," Luke reminded her. "You want some pie?"

"Yes, _please_." He went to the glass case to cut her a slice. "I love you."

"You just love me for my pie," he joked, setting the plate down in front of her and getting her a mug of coffee.

"Not true," she said, her eyes glinting with mischief. "I love you for your coffee, too."

She stayed at the counter the rest of the evening, chatting with Luke as he worked, eventually helping him clear the tables after the final few customers left the diner at closing time.

It wasn't anything different than she'd _ever_ have done. If they'd never moved past just friends and she was still here, living this stage of her life with a pregnant daughter, she knew she'd have taken cover in the diner from the mood swings in that scenario, too. But she was just thankful that it wasn't just here, at the diner. It was her whole life, and right now with this situation she found herself thankful that she was part of a team.

She knew that lately a lot of their life had been about Rory – dealing with her mood swings, talking her down when she got wound up about her situation with Logan, helping her make plans for her child. She felt slightly guilty that so much of their newly married life had become about someone else. She made a mental note to spend more time in the diner when Luke was working late, a time they usually had the place to themselves on and off, when she could help him clear tables in companionable silence (or, while she engaged him in idle chatter).

Lorelai went along with Rory's hunch – insistence - that she was having a girl. They called the baby 'she' and 'her' as the months went on, simply because she couldn't really picture anything else. They were three generations of Gilmore girls now, the only children of their parents. Suddenly it struck Lorelai as ironic that they'd managed to keep the family name alive through so many generations of only children who were daughters. Rory stubbornly insisted that her child was going to be the next Gilmore girl, explaining that "mothers just know these things," as if she was suddenly such an expert on being a mother.

At Rory's first ultrasound, they'd been unable to tell the gender due to the position of the baby. Rory had been disappointed at lack of confirmation and having to wait a few more weeks for her anatomy ultrasound, but she still insisted it was a girl.

"Rory wants to have a gender reveal," Lorelai declared, entering the bedroom and finding Luke sitting on their bed, looking at a piece of paper, presumably something related to the diner.

"A what?" he asked, peering up at her. "What the hell's that?"

"You know what a gender reveal is," Lorelai insisted, sure he had to have this knowledge. "You know, when there's a party where they reveal the gender of the baby in some sort of dramatic surprise. Kirk organizes them."

Luke frowned. "Is this part of his new party planning company?"

"Yes! Yeah, he threw one a couple weeks ago. Remember, you were all upset that there was blue confetti all over the town square for a week? The Broadricks had a piñata and when they broke it open, blue confetti came out. Because they're having a boy. Obviously."

"I thought gender was just revealed you know, at the doctor's office. Or in the delivery room."

"Yeah, it used to be," Lorelai agreed. "But now it's a whole thing, I don't know. I mean I'm all for eating cake but…" She pushed away the sad feeling she had when she realized that despite having a daughter and a stepdaughter, Luke had never gotten to experience learning the gender of his child in either of those situations. They'd moved on from that, they were happy – but she'd soon realized that maybe sometimes what could've been would hit you here and there. "Anyway, she wants to have one and I am _so_ not in the mood right now with everything going on with the inn, but it's the first thing she's kind of gotten excited about, really. Since she had to wait those extra weeks to find out the gender she got all fixated on this."

"First thing she got excited about?" Luke asked, puzzled. "She already bought a bunch of clothes."

Lorelai shrugged. "Well, yeah. But I kind of forced her. I wanted her to get excited, see the fun in this."

"So just throw her the party."

"She hired Kirk!"

"Great, better yet, let Kirk throw the party, we're off the hook."

"But… it's Kirk!"

"You said yourself he's thrown one before."

Lorelai laughed and put her head in her hands as she sat down on the bed next to Luke. "How did our lives become this?"

He laughed, rubbing her back softly. "Our lives have always kind of been this."

She had to admit, he had a point.

Between walking on eggshells to avoid Rory's mood swings, Luke's ever changing menu at the diner based on Rory's food aversions, and taking the first steps to expand the inn to the annex, Lorelai was content to let Kirk take over the planning of the gender reveal. She wore a pink dress, mostly so Rory wouldn't bite her head off for going against her motherly instinct, while Luke wore blue flannel. Lorelai was convinced he only did it because he happened to have plenty of blue flannel, not because he really had a strong premonition one way or the other on the baby's gender. But, he did it with very little cajoling on her behalf, so she said nothing. The kind of thing he always grumped about he seemed to have softened over since it was for Rory, or maybe it was because it was for the baby.

Rory, for her part, didn't even give Luke one bit of grief for wearing blue, though Lorelai knew she would've had her head. She'd noticed their bond seem to get stronger in the past few months. She wasn't sure if it was the marriage making their relationship solidified, the baby and Rory's appreciation of the fact that he was being so supportive, or if it was because it was the first time they'd ever really lived together under the same roof long term.

Kirk had organized the reveal to be balloons in a box. Rory opened the box to a bunch of pink balloons floating into the air. Taylor, the only other Stars Hollow citizen wearing blue, immediately ran after them. "They can't hit the power lines!" he exclaimed, grabbing them before they floated too high.

"I guess you were wrong," Rory teased Luke that evening. "I can't believe it was only you and _Taylor_ wearing blue," she laughed. "Going against a mother's instincts!"

This motherly instinct thing was going to drive Lorelai nuts, and she chanced a millisecond glance at Luke which said everything and she knew he was able to read it, without Rory ever being the wiser.

"They're bonded now. BFFs for life," Lorelai piped in.

"Just don't tell me you're naming her Lorelai," Luke added and Rory chuckled.

"Nothing's off the table yet!"

As the weeks went on, Lorelai took to Thursday nights in the diner. She let Rory have the house to herself, something that seemed to help her mood swings. She figured it had to be kind of frustrating and awkward to be living with your mother and stepfather while going through a pregnancy – she had lived with her parents too, but of course, she'd been underage and really _had to_. To be an adult, pregnant, and living at home had to cause her to desire some space from time to time. Rory had gone from being on her own, traveling the world on her own, to being back in her childhood bedroom while having motherhood forced upon her.

She wasn't going to lie – she needed the time to herself, too. She began to look forward to the time with Luke, idly chatting and laughing, all the baby stress out of their minds for the time being.

One Thursday in particular, she had left for the diner after she and Rory had bickered about the temperature in the house. Yes, the winter chill was leaving Stars Hollow, but it was not quite summer yet like the temperature Rory set the AC to seemed to signal it was. Lorelai and Luke had said nothing for the whole week, instead wearing their winter coats in the house and letting Rory enjoy her arctic temps. Finally she asked her if she could turn it up just a few degrees, and Rory snapped, venting about how hard being pregnant was, how her body was somebody's furnace, how she couldn't eat anything without suffering from heartburn and how her mother _didn't understand_. Lorelai said nothing, although that was a completely ridiculous accusation and she knew Rory would eventually realize that.

Rory came into the diner that particular Thursday, too, just before Luke was about to close up.

"I knew it!" she accused, her eyes large with anger, and maybe tears. "You come here to _hide_ from me!" she said, pointing her finger at her mother.

"Rory," Lorelai said with a roll of her eyes. She was so used to the mood swings by now, it didn't really phase her anymore.

"Every Thursday you hide out here. You want to get away from me."

"That's really not – that's not the truth."

"Then why do you come here every Thursday night?"

"Because my husband is working late. Because sometimes I need it to be about _him_ and _me._ Because I want you to have some space without being crowded by your parents all the time. Because I've been coming to the diner for _twenty years_ now and you know as well as anyone that sometimes I just come here and do nothing."

"Ugh!" Rory huffed, heading behind the counter and stomping up the stairs to the apartment. "I'll have some space here tonight!"

Lorelai looked at Luke, who shrugged. "She's mad."

"She'll calm down," Luke assured her. "Has she heard from Logan?" Luke asked suddenly.

Lorelai looked up in surprise, but didn't miss a beat. "Not recently. They talked a while ago, when she found out it was a girl. He's kind of taking an interest in this now, I guess? He wants to know things like that."

"That the only child he has in this world is a daughter versus a son?" Luke rolled his eyes. "How very interested of him."

"Well, I mean," Lorelai played with the last piece of pie she had on her plate. "At least it's something. At least he didn't disappear off the face of the Earth."

Luke agreed. "I guess you're right."

"Mom said that he and the fiancée aren't doing too well," Lorelai added. "I mean, it's Mom, so take it with a grain of salt, but… I don't know. I feel like there's no good outcome here."

"Him being involved would be a good outcome."

"Of course," Lorelai said quietly. "But once he's involved is she going to feel some sense of obligation to always keep him in her life, for her kid, for nostalgia, for the fact that _maybe_ it was supposed to be the two of them, for years – on his terms? Is she going to run back to him all the time, because there's a _kid_ and _maybe_? Is it going to keep her from finding who she's really supposed to be with? Will he be the reason she ruins relationship after relationship, even when she doesn't want him?"

Luke understood. "It doesn't have to be the same."

"It doesn't have to be, no," Lorelai agreed. "But it is. She's got her own Christopher there. The fact that she kept going back to him all this time, even when he was engaged, the no strings attached – both back then and now – the reckless situations she gets into."

"You figured it out. She will, too."

She nodded, still worried about the life her daughter had ahead of her, forever entangled with Logan Huntzberger. It had taken years for her to get to this place with Luke, where they could talk about it without pain and ghosts of the past, and now more than ever she was thankful they could.

The next morning when he arrived to work, Luke knocked on the door of the apartment with a decaf coffee in hand. Rory looked at him sheepishly.

"I hope you don't mind I stayed the night in your apartment."

He waved her off. "Of course not. It's yours, too."

"Thanks." He handed her the coffee. "Thanks," she said again. "Sorry about last night. I'm embarrassed. Sometimes the hormones just…" she sat down at the kitchen table.

"I know. I get it," he said. "You have to go easy on your mom," he told her gently.

She sighed, putting her head in her hands. "I know. _I know_. I just feel like I've let her down and for some reason I react by being a total… you know."

"You didn't let her down," he told her firmly.

"My mom sacrificed _everything_ for me. Everything. All she ever wanted for me when I was growing up was a better life. She wanted me to be able to go to college and travel the world and fulfill my dreams. And here I am. Doing the exact same thing she did."

"It's not quite the same," Luke countered. "You're in your thirties."

"And unmarried and single and unemployed and homeless."

"But you _did_ go to college. You _did_ travel the world. The job, that'll come. You've got a lot more advantages than she had when she did this. That's what she wanted for you. And I don't think you could _ever_ let your mother down. Ever."

Rory nodded and bit her lip. "I hope you're right."

"I am. You raise this kid right, on your own, you'll make her proud. Learn from her - what she did right, her mistakes - and you won't let her down. Trust me."

Lorelai didn't let Rory's mood swings get to her much. She continued to spend Thursday nights at the diner with Luke, and at Rory's urging, they began to take time for themselves for Saturday date nights. Rory had admitted that she had never stopped to think about it before, that at home everything really was about her and the baby a lot of the time.

Lorelai was up late one Saturday night, after they returned from their outing to the movie night at the BWR. With the new annex addition, she sometimes felt a lot like it was when she'd opened the Dragonfly all those years ago – though a little easier since she'd done it before and had a little more understanding. Things had been slow to get started at first, but she knew the rush that was going to be coming soon if it was anything like the days of opening the Dragonfly. She'd been reading over some paperwork when there was a knock on their door, which was already cracked partially open.

"Can I come in?" Rory called.

"Yeah, Hon!" Lorelai called back. Rory appeared a moment later.

"Do we have any fruity cereal? Like Fruit Loops? Or even Trix. Captain Crunch would be _okay_ , I guess. I'm just really craving something fruity with milk. Oh _man_ , how good does that sound?"

Lorelai glanced over at Luke who was in bed but not yet asleep. "No, sorry. We still have some Cinnamon Toast Crunch, I think?"

Rory shook her head. "Ugh, no. Cinnamon is still not on the best of terms with me."

"Oh. Right." She looked at Rory apologetically. "Sorry, Hon."

"I'll go get some," Luke declared, getting up from the bed, surprising them both. Lorelai and Rory both gaped at him.

"Luke it's – it's after midnight. Doose's is closed. _Stars Hollow_ is closed," Lorelai reminded him. "It's late."

"I'll go to Woodbridge. They have a 24 hour grocery store there."

Rory wanted to stop him, but her cravings for fruity cereal were _high_. "I could go with you…" she offered.

"No, it's fine. You stay. I'll be back soon." He grabbed his wallet from the dresser and he was out the door.

Rory gaped at her mother, mouth wide. "Wow. You really found a good one, Mom."

Lorelai smiled, touched by Luke's actions. "Yeah. I know." Rory sighed, and Lorelai knew a small part of her was wishing she'd found one just as good. "You'll find one, too."

Luke returned within an hour, finding Rory still sitting with Lorelai in their bedroom. It seemed to him they were discussing baby names, but some of the names Lorelai was throwing out sounded more like words than names. "Cereal's here!" he announced.

Rory smiled at him, thankful. She didn't dare admit to him that since he'd left, her fruity craving had totally vanished. "Thanks, Luke."

"You're all covered. Fruit Loops and Trix, Captain Crunch just in case. In case you don't want fruity anymore, there's some Cocoa Puffs and just in case all that's not hitting the spot, I threw in some Lucky Charms for good measure. Then, what I believe will be a true winner, there's the Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs."

Rory's eyes widened, the chocolate peanut butter combo _just_ what she was craving now. "You're the _best_ , Luke!" she declared, hopping up off the bed and stopping to give him a kiss on the cheek before she bolted for the doorway, heading downstairs for her cereal.

"Hey, save me some Cocoa Puffs for tomorrow!" Lorelai yelled after her.

"I make no promises!" Rory called back, voice already in the distance.

Lorelai raised her eyebrows at Luke, her eyes teary. "Thank you."

He shrugged, returning back to the bed. "No big deal."

"I don't know what to do about you anymore," she admitted with a laugh.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, we're married now. Then there's times like this where you're just so _amazing_ and I can't express to you how much I love you and what can I even do? We're married now. It's not like I can show you by marrying you. I'm at the end of my bag of tricks here."

He chuckled and reached over and patted her knee. "I already know."

"You're amazing. Thank you. Thank you for going to get Rory cereal at one in the morning. Thank you for doing this with me, going through this with me. It's making it a hell of a lot easier."

He reached over and took her hand, playing with her wedding bands. "Of course."

"This wasn't what you thought our first year of married life would be like, huh?"

He shrugged, still fiddling with her rings. "I realized a long time ago that things never go as you think. They just… go. Whatever happens, we ride it out together."

"I love you so much," she said, leaning forward to kiss him. "Really and truly. You've always been there for me. Through everything. You're so good and accepting and amazing."

"So are you," he told her and she snorted in disbelief. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Lorelai."

"Thank you," she said softly. "Thank you for loving both of us."


	6. Chapter 6

The closer she got to her due date, the more Rory noticed she never seemed to be alone.

Her mom was home, or Luke – or both of them. A few nights ago they'd been planning to go to a town meeting, when Rory expressed that she'd rather skip it and stay in because she was exhausted – and suddenly, her mom and Luke were skipping it, too. April was on summer break from graduate school and around quite often, staying in Luke's old apartment and often hanging around the house. Lane seemed to call and invite Rory over just when everyone else was busy. Even Paris had made an appearance to check in on her recently. As crazy as it was – she was _fine_ to be alone, after all she was pregnant, not sick – she had to admit it was nice to know so many people cared.

A warm summer day in late June, April seemed to be on call. Her due date was still a month away, but everyone seemed to become more and more concerned. She had to admit, there had been _one_ time she'd needed help getting up from the couch, and several times she'd needed help with various other tasks such as putting on her own shoes. Her mother and grandmother were still in an endless debate about if she'd have the baby early (Emily), or late (Lorelai). Of course there was another opinion – whenever the hell it happens (Luke, once he'd had enough of his wife and mother-in-law's debates).

April appeared that summer afternoon, just when Lorelai had a business meeting with Michel and a contractor in charge of the annex renovations and Luke was at work.

"Rory. Hey!" she greeted, in a manner that Rory could sense signaled she felt awkward about her babysitting assignment.

"Hey April," Rory said, unsurprised to find she had a babysitter. Luckily, she wasn't crabby today. "You on Rory duty this afternoon?"

April seemed to have a very poor poker face, and she knew it, so she gave up the façade all together. "Sure. That's fair."

Rory shrugged, used to it by now. "Well anyway, I'm glad you're here. Mom and I went shopping yesterday. She keeps making me go shopping. I think it's her way of getting me out of the house for a bit _and_ making sure I'm excited about my impending motherhood. She's been doing this since before I was showing. But anyway, we found something for you! Well, kind of for you. More for the baby. Hand me that bag over there?"

April passed Rory the bag that was near the staircase, and sat down on the couch next to her. Rory riffled through it until she pulled out a tiny onesie. "Ah ha! Check this out," she said, handing it over to April, proud grin plastered on her face.

April turned it over to see the printing on the front. Embossed in the front in big, bold letters were the words: _My Auntie is a Genius._

"Cute, huh?" Rory asked with a chuckle. "We thought it was funny since it's supposed to be one of those brag-y things, but you really _are_ smart, so."

April studied it for a moment, running her fingers over the lettering, then asked, "So… you think of me as the baby's aunt?"

"Well… yeah. You're my stepsister, after all. Officially and everything now." Rory looked down at the onesie and back at April. "Are you… okay with that? Sorry, we didn't even think twice about it, we just saw it, thought you, and grabbed it."

"No! No, it's cool. It's really… cool," she said with a smile. "I never really thought about being an aunt before. I never had any siblings growing up, so the idea kind of escaped me, I guess. It's awesome."

Rory smiled. "Well good, because I'm going to need this baby to have all the support she can get. Growing up for me was just really me and mom. Even my grandparents weren't in the picture much until I was older. And that was fine – I was happy with just Mom. But I'm really happy my baby will have so much more family from the beginning, you know? A great-grandma, grandparents, an aunt… all around, all the time. Even if her dad isn't around much."

April thought for a moment. "You have another sister."

"Gigi? Yeah. But I don't expect her to really be around. She's young. She lives in Paris with her mom now. She and I haven't really had much of a relationship in years. We never did, really. I guess if the roles were reversed – I don't think I'd be seen as much of an aunt to her kids, either. We're pretty distant. Kind of like that relative you know you have and you're Facebook friends with but you don't really _know_." Rory shrugged. "Plus, she's from my dad's side. So it's not like she'll ever be here with us for holidays and gatherings and stuff. You're the aunt the baby will know."

"I think I could be a good aunt," she decided. "Of course, the role model I have is Aunt Liz, so my model is a little questionable, but still."

Rory laughed and gave April a warm hug. "You're going to be great."

"Are you totally freaked?" April asked suddenly. "About having the baby?"

"Oh. I… not so much _being_ a mother, no. I mean, I'm nervous about that, but I think I've got my brain wrapped around it now. And support to help. But – "

"Giving birth?" April asked knowingly, crinkling her nose up at the idea.

"Yeah. Terrifying."

They both shared a little laugh. Rory had always taken a liking to April, from the day she met her in Philadelphia all those years ago. She reminded her a little of herself back then, though Rory had been into books and April's specialty was science. Their paths didn't cross much those first few years after her mother and Luke reconciled – Rory was on the campaign trail most of the next two years, and April was back and forth between Connecticut and New Mexico. When visits home happened for either of them, it was rare they coincided. When April returned to the East Coast for college and Rory was more or less "home" in New York, their paths crossed more often, though both were busy leading their own lives and April was back and forth between her mother's and her father's worlds for major holidays.

Now that Rory was "back," as she finally had to admit she was, she was finally getting a chance to really spend time with her finally official stepsister.

After all her mother and Luke had been through regarding April, the first time around, she knew it was different the second time. It was sometimes hard for her to imagine that though she was no longer at home, there was another daughter figure in Lorelai's life. They shared enough of their worlds in their mother and father to have a connection. Rory had been there to watch their relationship develop (and explode, once or twice). April was there to watch as they grew into a long term, committed domestic couple.

Lorelai entered the house through the backdoor of the kitchen and heard the girls laughing. She stopped to pause in the doorway of the kitchen to take in the scene in front of her – Rory and April laughing over something, then leaning over together to examine the onesie in April's hand. Lorelai smiled with recognition, remembering the onesie from her recent shopping trip with Rory.

"Hey," she heard a whisper behind her and gasped, turning to see Luke, then whacking him in the chest.

"Hey. You scared me! Don't sneak up on someone who's eavesdropping on someone else!"

Luke gave a whisper of a laugh. "Sorry. What are you doing?"

"Oh. I just got home. But Rory and April were having such a nice moment together I just… kind of stopped to watch."

"They're good together, huh?" Luke asked.

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Yeah. And sometimes it's like they both speak a secret language we don't get."

"That's for sure."

"Rory and I found this cute little outfit for the baby. It says _My Auntie is a Genius!_ We bought it thinking of April. Rory's really excited for her baby to have an aunt. That's something she never had growing up."

Luke smiled. "April's excited too."

"It's too bad they both had to grow up only children," Lorelai said with a laugh. "Hey, do you remember when _Rory_ met April before I did?" she teased, the past somehow becoming light enough to joke about all these years later. If you would've told 2006 Lorelai that this would be the case one day – married to Luke and she herself poking fun at the situation that had caused her so much anguish and sent her into one of the most confusing periods of her life, she wouldn't have believed you.

"Uh. Yeah," Luke winced. " _Not_ planned, may I remind you."

Lorelai laughed at his awkwardness. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Rory still has that picture somewhere. From Philly."

Luke nodded, remembering. "You know April has a picture of you and her from her 13th birthday party?"

Lorelai smiled at the memory she had been able to make with April when she was Luke's fiancée. She'd always been somewhat thankful for that – happy that April got to see she _wanted_ to be in her life, worried that April would have otherwise always wondered if the mysterious fiancée disappeared because of her appearance in her father's life. "She was so young then." She sighed and smiled again at their two girls in front of her. "It's crazy how grown up they are now. One having a baby, the other one in grad school. It still freaks me out that _everyone_ has a glass of wine with dinner now. Well, not Rory currently, but you know. We're all adults."

Luke shook his head. "They'll always be the eleven and twelve year olds I first met to me."

Lorelai laughed. "That's because you're such a _father_."

"Hey, Dad! Lorelai!" April called. Lorelai froze. "Come in here and stop spying on us!"

Lorelai looked at her husband and laughed. "Busted."

Rory was determined to get as much of her book completed as she could before she gave birth. "I don't want to be one of those ladies you see going viral these days, working on their laptop in the labor and delivery room," she'd said. "And I want to focus on the baby when she comes and not be worried about the book."

Jess had stepped in to help her make publication a more practical vision. He told her they could easily publish a few hundred copies to get it circulated and gather speed. His offer had made her the happiest anyone had seen her in weeks – she was still early on in her pregnancy back then, and relief had washed over her, knowing she had a plan. "I can see it now. I can see this working out."

To Lorelai, the sound of laughter was unmistakable. The pages of the book were spread out in front of them both, all over the kitchen table. Rory was sipping on her juice while Jess grinned at her – in that way he always had – and they both laughed, the conversation most likely _not_ about the book.

"And if you name her Lorelai, she'd technically be what, Lorelai the fourth?"

"Maybe I'll just call her 'Four.' Seems sort of celebrity-ish. Glamorous."

"Glamorous or _ridiculous_ ," he teased, and they both laughed.

Oh, she recognized this. She recognized this banter. She recognized this _support_.

She bolted up the stairs, finding Luke in the hallway between their bedroom and the upstairs bathroom. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into their bedroom, slamming the door behind them.

"Lorelai? What-" he's confused, and she doesn't fault him for that.

"Do you think something's going on with Rory and Jess?"

His eyes widen, like he's worried something big has happened, but also like he wouldn't _completely_ be shocked if it had, which meant he had the same suspicions. "What? Why?"

"Do you think they have feelings for each other?"

He was silent for a moment, then answered honestly. "I don't know."

"They're down there talking and laughing and _bantering_."

"Yeah, but that's Rory and Jess. They are friends."

"That was also Luke and Lorelai," she reminded him pointedly. "They talked and laughed and _bantered_ then suddenly they were naked in bed together. He's had her back with this book thing the whole time. It was his idea," she recalled.

"He says he's over her," Luke told her. "I asked him. He told me so, before the wedding."

"Before the _wedding_? Our wedding? That was just a few months ago. Which means if you even had to talk about if he was over her or not…"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. Jess… I don't know that he's ever _really_ gotten over her. You Gilmores have that deep hook."

Lorelai rolled her eyes playfully. "I don't know. I knew they had like, this special bond going on. The writer thing… but I never really wondered if it was _feelings_ until now."

"I think Rory's got enough going on that she's probably not interested in Jess right now."

"But it's weird, isn't it?" Lorelai persisted, focused on the issue at hand, whether or not it was even an issue. "And this has nothing to do with Jess. Jess is a good guy." She'd come to realize that. Jess _had_ grown up pretty good. In fact, in the years that had come to pass, Jess had become the one who held more of a grudge, had more judgment of Lorelai. All the years Lorelai had judged Jess and held a grudge for what he'd done to Rory, she'd upped the ante and he now felt the same about what she'd done to his uncle. Sometime after that, they'd sort of come to an understanding: sometimes we hurt people we care about because we're idiots. "It's not that. It's that they're related now."

"By marriage. Not by blood."

It still thrilled Lorelai, after all these months, to note that they had made people be related by marriage, finally. "Imagine they got _married_ ," Lorelai went on. "Jess is my nephew now. If they got married he would be my nephew _and_ my son-in-law."

Luke knew she was jumping to conclusions and about a hundred thousand steps ahead of what was going on, but he stopped to think about this for a moment. Then he started laughing, the kind of laugh that was so rare for Luke that it always caught Lorelai's attention immediately.

"What?" she asked, hands on her hips.

"Rory would be your _niece_ ," he added with a smirk.

She frowned, as she processed this information, then gaped at him. "What the hell. See? Weird. That would just be so weird."

"Lorelai, you're jumping to conclusions."

"But –"

"I know. It would be weird. If it's even a thing. Not traditional, that's for sure but when the hell have _we_ ever done anything traditionally in this family?" He had a point there. "After everything we've been through. If they _do_ have feelings for each other, if something _did_ happen, if Rory became your niece," she crinkled her nose at that, but knew he was getting a kick out of it, "So be it if they're happy. Right?"

Lorelai sighed, realizing he had a point. After everything they had gone through, they learned that the bottom line was being happy. "Yeah. Right. But Luke it's _weird_."

He laughed and admitted. "I know. But for all we know it's nothing."

"Oh, come on. _We_ know. We played that little game." She put her head in her hands and laughed. "I told her that if Logan was her Christopher, she just had to wait to find her Luke." Luke frowned, trying to process this conversation and what she was talking about. "I didn't mean for her to actually go into Luke's family. Oh man."

"Just, let it be," Luke told her, pulling her into his arms and kissing her on the head. "It's weird, I agree. But whatever happens, happens."

She nodded. "My niece," she mumbled into his chest and he couldn't help but laugh.

Emily came into town two weeks before Rory was due.

"Why so early, Mom? You know it's her first kid. They usually come late," Lorelai debated with her mother over the phone when she informed her of her plans.

"Well, I don't want to risk missing out on the birth. Rory said I can be in the _delivery room_ ," Emily said with glee. Lorelai could practically envision the current look on her face and shook her head. Just another way Rory was perfect and she was the failure of a daughter.

"Yes, Mom, I know. But it's two weeks early! And it's not like Nantucket is across the country."

"It's a long drive, Lorelai. I do not want to waste hours going from here to there when I could already be there when my granddaughter goes into labor."

"Well, where are you going to stay, then?" Lorelai asked, knowing her mother was too stubborn to give up. "We don't have room! Rory's in her room and April's going to be here for all of July –"

"Yes, Lorelai, _I know_. Your home is much too small for your family, let alone your mother. I'll stay at a hotel," Emily said, dismissively. "I never planned on invading your home, of course. Do you ever think you might need a bigger home?"

"No, Mom. Our home is fine."

"You have Rory, and April, and now the baby. No room for your mother to visit…"

Lorelai sighed. Some things would never change. She was getting used to them, now. Her father had always kind of been the buffer between her and her mother. Sometimes he'd calm her mother down. Sometimes he'd calm Lorelai down. After he was gone, things went sour, fast – before his funeral was even done – with her and her mother. But somehow, things were healing themselves now. Her mother had found herself in her new season of life. She'd become a new Emily, and she'd become far more relaxed since discovering her love for Nantucket. Lorelai had maybe found herself, too. She'd finally married _for real_ , and was calm and settled and even expanding her business. Then there was Rory and the baby, which ironically, seemed to keep her and her mother connected in some strangely upbeat way.

"Rory and April are grown already, Mom. If they were children, maybe, but they're both adults."

"And yet, they're both going to be there in July. One of them is living with you. And you only have two bedrooms."

" _Anyway_. I can offer you a room at the inn?" Lorelai asked, trying to be helpful. Her mother _had_ been awfully kind and helpful to Rory the past few months. Very few judgments had been passed. "If you want."

"That would be lovely," Emily agreed.

Emily's presence in town two weeks early kept Lorelai preoccupied. She was so busy focusing on her mother, and her mother's demands, that she didn't have much time to worry about Rory. The one flaw she hadn't thought of when offering her mother space at the inn – was that she'd be at the inn. Where Lorelai was, all day, every day.

On this particular July day, Emily requested to accompany Lorelai over to the property for the annex. Construction was in full swing. After months of drawing up the plans, finding the materials, and securing the funds and the contractors (Tom had been unusually busy), ground had broken on the new property a few weeks prior. Emily had been asking to see it ("I want to see where my money's going!") but Lorelai had been able to hold her off until now. Then she made the mistake of revealing her plans for the day while her mother was in front of her in the lobby of the inn, and she couldn't find a way out.

She'd texted April in a panic. Rory was too heavily pregnant these days to be her go to.

SOS. I need your help. I need a buffer. Lunch is on me if you save my soul.

Lorelai took her mother to the new expansion of the inn. Just as Emily was beginning to question everything she saw – and offer her opinions – April arrived.

"Oh! April! I almost forgot you were meeting me here for lunch!" Lorelai dramatized, probably so over the top that Emily saw right through it.

April's presence allowed her to hurry the visit along, and her presence at lunch kept the conversation moving away from Lorelai and the inn. Lorelai heard her phone vibrate in her purse, but dared not look at during the meal and receive a lecture from her mother. She heard it vibrate twice more and grimaced. Probably Michel was looking for her at the annex. Or at the inn. She hadn't told him about her lunch plans. The last thing she needed right now was to piss him off. He'd been helping her out, _a lot_. Without Sookie around this time, Michel had become her business partner.

The caller finally gave up. About ten minutes later, she heard it again. Not long after, she heard April's phone ring. April glanced at Emily and Lorelai before grabbing it and hitting the reject call button.

"For goodness sake," Emily said, glancing at her meal. Lorelai groaned inwardly. Her mother had already sent back one plate for being cooked incorrectly. "This won't do either!"

"Mom. You eat Berta's weird, crazy food all the time. Yet you can't just eat this completely decent meal?"

"Berta makes what she makes. I specifically _ordered_ this food a certain way. Is it so much for me to ask that it be given to me in that manner?" Emily sighed. "It's such a shame that Sookie left you."

Lorelai would normally argue the use of the term "left you" with her mother, but

She heard her phone vibrate again. Then April's. Then, Emily's phone rang.

"What on Earth?" Emily asked, looking down at her phone, as if she was surprised it had the capacity to ring during lunch. "Excuse me."

"'Excuse me?' You're gong to take the call?" Emily ignored her daughter, as Lorelai looked at April and shrugged. Lorelai went to dig for her own phone, and April pulled hers from her pocket.

All three women looked up at each other when they saw the missed calls: _Rory, Rory, Luke, Rory, Luke_. Emily, apparently on the phone with one of them, screeched, "Rory's having the baby!" loud enough that the patrons in the restaurant all turned to look at them.

"Great, great, _great_ ," Lorelai grumbled. They shouldn't even have been at lunch to begin with. If only her mother hadn't decided to arrive two weeks early! Lorelai frowned, realizing her mother had actually been correct in deciding to arrive early. Still, of course it had to be her mother that kept her away when her daughter needed her.

"They're already on their way to the hospital!" Emily said. "We're to meet them there. Let's go!"

When they arrived at the hospital, Luke seemed to be uncomfortably doing his best for Rory. She was already in a bed when her grandmother, mother, and stepsister arrived. Luke was busy fooling with the remote control, attempting to find her something to watch.

"I should go," Luke said. He handed Rory a cup of ice chips. "Here. Here's the rest of these."

"No, Luke," Rory said quickly. "You don't have to leave. It's going to be a while still."

"But I – "

"Stay. Please. What are you going to do, go sit in the waiting room? Stay." Rory turned to her mother. "I was freaking out. My water broke. No one was home. I tried calling you, but you didn't answer. So I called Luke. I was rambling the whole way here. But he was calm."

Lorelai smiled at her daughter, then at her husband. "Yeah. Well, he's had much practice dealing with the crazy ramblings of a Gilmore woman." She kissed Rory on the head, comfortingly. "He's pretty good."

Rory nodded in agreement. "Thanks, Luke."

"Yeah. Well," he blushed, sitting back down in his chair.

The next time the doctor came in, she announced to Rory and her mother and grandmother with glee, "Shouldn't be too much longer! You're progressing nicely, Rory!"

"She's so chipper," Lorelai muttered as the doctor left the room, Emily following her to ask her some inane question that neither Rory nor Lorelai cared knowing the answer to. Rory didn't react, staring off at the doorway blankly. "Rory?"

"Huh?" she snapped out of it. "Chipper? Yeah."

"You okay?"

She gulped and looked up at her mother. "It's about to happen."

"Yeah," Lorelai said with a soft sigh, reaching out to brush Rory's hair out of her face. "It is. It's going to be wonderful, Rory. I mean, not the labor probably – sorry, let's face reality – but –"

"I know, but it's going to be hard. Being a mother. Motherhood is a big deal, people generally know that. And being a single mother? I mean it was the hardest thing you ever had to do, you know."

Lorelai continued stroking her daughter's hair. She couldn't believe that they were here, her thirty-three year old daughter in labor with her grandchild, when it seemed only yesterday in some ways that it was her being wheeled into the delivery room by a nurse, her mother following behind them lecturing her and her father complaining about his shoe choice.

She missed her dad at times like this. He would've been such a support to Rory. He'd be thrilled to be a great grandfather. He'd adore that baby. He'd loved Rory so much and now here was such a huge thing happening in Rory's life, and he will never know it.

"It wasn't the hardest thing I ever did," Lorelai cut her off.

"It wasn't?"

"It was hard, sure. I had to work my ass off those first few years we were on our own. I gave up a lot to be a good mother to you. It was hard work, sure. But being a parent is, no matter what the circumstances are. And it was hard to do it on my own, but it was in my control, you know? I knew I could take care of you, of us, even if I had to work as a maid and live in a shed. And raising you was wonderful. So that's my point. This will _not_ be the hardest thing you ever do. It will be hard work, but you're going to love your kid so much that when you look back… it's going to be amazing, actually, to be a mother."

"So then what _was_ the hardest thing you ever did?" Rory asked out of pure curiosity.

She waited only a moment before answering. "Luke."

" _Luke_?" Rory asked, confused. "What about Luke?"

"The break-up, the getting back together. It was hard. All of it." Rory seemed to be waiting for a further explanation, so she sighed. "The first few weeks after we got back together this last time, it was hard. Not in an 'I don't think I can do this' way, but in an emotionally draining way. I had to learn to open up and be vulnerable and face a lot of issues I had successfully hidden from in the past. I had to face pain I'd caused _him_. We had to fight through all of that and trust we'd be okay in the end, which we were. Better, even. And then there was 2006, the pain I put myself through, the pain I put _him_ through. The moment I told him that I went to your dad that night… still one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Getting up the courage to try it again, to even walk back in the _diner_ again, to admit I _wanted_ that again. Anyway, the point is, Hon, there's going to be a lot of hard things in your life. Harder than this. _This_ is going to work itself out just fine. It's going to be a blessing."

"I'm already 33," Rory pointed out. "When you were 33, I was 17."

"Yeah?"

"I can't wait for my kid to grow up and go to college before I get married. I'll be in my fifties. You were already chasing after Luke by the time you were 33."

Lorelai laughed and whacked her playfully. "I was not."

"You totally _were_ , but okay. When you were my age you were just about three years away from getting together with him."

"The fact I never married until now had nothing to do with you. It had everything to do with my commitment issues, and probably the fact that yes, the one I wanted was Luke and I was busy denying it."

Rory smirked. "So long as you can admit it now," she teased.

The next hour passed by quickly to Lorelai, but extremely slowly to Rory, knowing delivery was looming. Finally, Luke and April found themselves together in the waiting room after Rory had been rushed to delivery. And hour passed by, and most of another, before Lorelai appeared in front of them with a grin.

Luke jumped up immediately. "Well?"

"The baby's here," she said, radiating exhaustion. "We're grandparents!" she added to Luke, shooting him a beaming grin.

"How's Rory?"

"She's great. Exhausted, but great. She's in love with her little guy."

" _Guy_?" April gasped, catching on right away. "It's a _boy_?"

Lorelai grinned and laughed. "Yeah. Surprise!"

"Oh wow," April went on. "A _boy_. I have a _nephew_. That's so cool. _I have a nephew_ ," she repeated with a grin while Luke just gaped at her in shock.

"I know, Hon. I know. I felt the same way a little while ago," Lorelai laughed. "Anyway, he's here. He's doing great. He's amazing. Rory's great. You guys will be able to see her soon, they're moving her to recovery. Mom's with her. She wanted me to come tell you the news."

"It's a boy?" Luke asked, utterly surprised by this news. After nine months of hearing Rory declare her motherly instincts told her she was having a daughter, after a gender reveal where pink balloons flew to the sky, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the baby was a girl.

"I guess that's what happens when we leave Kirk in charge of the gender reveal," Lorelai said with a small laugh, kissing Luke gently. "So much for Rory's motherly instincts, huh?" she added with a teasing laugh. It had driven her crazy how Rory insisted she just _knew_ the baby was a girl all along, as if she was the first one to ever feel one way or another about the gender of an unborn child and Luke was the only one who knew how crazy it had driven her so he laughed right along with her.

When Rory was settled in her room, the family came to visit. The baby, nestled in her arms, was sleeping soundly after his busy day arriving into the world.

"Hey, Luke. Hi April," Rory greeted softly. She looked happy and content, but exhausted and tired at the same time.

"Hey," Luke replied in a whisper. He peered down at the baby in Rory's arms. "He's amazing."

"He's a _he_ ," she laughed, eyes shining with amusement.

"Yeah," Luke replied, looking up at Rory with that million dollar grin Lorelai loved so much. "Surprise, huh?"

Rory nodded. "I'll say. Meet your grandson," she told Luke. She nodded at April. "And your nephew."

April seemed stunned for a moment, as she continued to process. "I'm an _aunt_. Wow."

Rory grinned at them, the family that had been brought to her by her mother. "You guys want to hold him?"

Luke hesitated. "But, he's sleeping."

Rory shrugged. "It's okay. He's been bouncing around from person to person."

"C'mon, Babe," Lorelai prompted. "Or else he's going to like me more. I've been hogging him up all day."

Luke reluctantly agreed and Rory shifted the baby into his arms. Looking down at him, right away he recognized features of his mother and grandmother in his tiny face, even at hours old. He was so tiny and small, so brand new to the world around them. "Hi. Hi there," Luke said softly. He frowned and looked from Rory to Lorelai. "What's his name?" There was a pause before he added, "Please don't tell me you named him Lorelai."

"No, no," Rory laughed. "Mom tried to convince me, but no. This is Richard William Gilmore."

Honoring Richard, Luke was not surprised about. But, "William?"

Rory smiled. "It's a family name through and through. That was important to me. Family supporting me is the only way I made it this far. After his grandpa and auntie's side of the family," she said, flashing a smile at April and Luke. "Richard, after Grandpa – of course. And the Gilmore name. He might not be a Gilmore _girl_ , but he's another one of us."

Emily, who had been quiet, was now teary eyed. "Your grandfather would be so honored, Rory."

"I know," she said with tears of her own, knowing this was the truth. "Finally, a boy to carry on the name. I wish so much that he could meet him."

An hour passed before they could tell that the nurses were urging them out. It _was_ 3am, and they had made exceptions to visiting hours for the family to begin with. April was asleep in the chair in the corner of Rory's room. Emily and Lorelai went down to the cafeteria to get coffee before the drive home ("I don't want to fall asleep on the road, Mom!" Lorelai had insisted).

Rory watched her son, sleeping in his plastic bed next to her own. "It's so crazy," Rory said to Luke with a shake of her head. "I have a _baby_. And it's a boy. This whole time we thought it was a girl and then wham!" Luke listened to her patiently, nodding along. "I need your help, Luke."

"Huh?" he asked, surprised. "With…?"

"I have a _son_. I don't know what to do with a son. I just… I know I was raised by a single mother and I came out fine. But we were two girls. Y'know, everything I needed to know about make-up, heels, bras, boys… my mom knew about, too. This guy, well. He's stuck with just a mother. I need help. Someone to teach him sports or how to fish or whatever it is he'll want to do and how to tie his tie and oh God, how to shave, and – all that stuff that Mom and I know _nothing_ about."

Luke looked his stepdaughter straight in the eyes. "You got it, Rory. Although we've got time before the ties and the shaving, I think."

Rory laughed, appreciation in her eyes. "Maybe Logan will be around, I don't know. Even if he is, it's going to be inconsistent. But you're going to be the most regular, consistent man in his life. He's got a great-grandmother and a grandmother and a mother and two aunts. Not a lot of male figures there. Logan's set on life in London and I'm set on life here. Logan's dad wants nothing to do with him. My dad, well – I'm sure he'll pop in from time to time and send gifts and whatever, but he wasn't even around for _me_ so I'm not holding my breath. He's going to be that grandfather that you never _really_ know but you have to act like you like. When I thought I was having a girl – I felt more confident. But now I… I don't know. I need your help. You're going to be his _grandpa._ "

Luke nodded and patted her hand. "Whatever you need, Rory. You got it. I'm here for you."

She nodded and let a tear of relief slide down her cheek. "Thank you."

Lorelai returned, coffee in hand, babbling about how absurd it was that the cafeteria was surprised anyone wanted coffee at 3am. Realizing they'd brought two cars, Luke offered to drive a clearly exhausted Emily home – "She can stay in Rory's room," Luke said. "You say bye to Rory."

Lorelai helped get Rory settled for the evening, adjusting her pillows, getting her everything she'd need for the night, making sure she had a fresh pitcher of water and everything else on her nightstand. They fussed over the baby for a few minutes, making sure he was settled.

"You can call a nurse to take him to the nursery," Lorelai reminded her. "If you want to rest. Take the opportunity now."

"I know," Rory said softly, staring at her son with love and awe. "I'm okay for now."

Lorelai understood. "Okay."

"You sure you don't want to stay over?" Rory only half teased her mother.

Lorelai shook her head. "No, Kid. You got this. I'm not going to infringe on your space. I'm here for you, always. But I've been down this road. I know what it's like to have your mother in your business when you're trying to learn how to be a mother yourself."

"This is not the same," Rory argued with a frown.

"It's not, no. But it could become the same very easily, if we're not careful. So I'm giving you your space to do this. When you need help, just holler." Rory nodded, knowing her mother understood more than she could. "So, are you good tonight?" she asked.

Rory nodded and smiled. "Yeah. I am."

Lorelai kissed her on the head. "You're amazing. And wonderful. This kid is so lucky to have you. You did amazing today."

"Thanks, Mom."

"I'll be back tomorrow morning. Text me if you need anything from home. And please, get some rest."

"Okay." She watched as her mother went to rouse April, who was still asleep in the chair.

"April? Honey. Let's go home," Lorelai gently shook her stepdaughter awake. She was twenty-three now, but sometimes she was still the little girl that Lorelai had first met. She woke, confused, rubbing her neck.

"What time is it?"

"3AM. C'mon, let's go. Say bye to your nephew," she added as she wrapped her arm around her and April leaned into her, still sleepy.

Rory watched them go, amazed at how far their family had come. For so many years it had been just her and her mom. Then her grandparents came back into her life with more regularity than ever before. Then Luke and April joined them and now here was this little _boy_ , her own _child_ , outnumbered girls to boys.

It was scary, and it was new and overwhelming, but she knew everything would be okay.

She was thankful, once more, for the family she had behind her.

"Hey, Grandpa!" Lorelai greeted gleefully when she returned home that night, Luke having beat her home. He was rustling around in the kitchen, and Lorelai was surprised being that it was the middle of the night and it had been a _long_ day. She glanced at the door to Rory's room which was shut tight, and she assumed her mother had already excused herself to bed.

He rolled his eyes, but couldn't contain the grin on his face. "Don't start that."

"Start what?" she teased innocently.

"You know what. _Grandma_." She gasped, clutching her hands to her chest as if she'd been personally wounded.

"Okay, truce." She grinned at him, unable to really take offense to the name. "It _is_ our reality now, I guess." She stepped forward and into his arms that immediately opened. "Kind of crazy, huh?"

He kissed her on top of the head as he wrapped his arms around her. "Yeah. Amazing though. It's a new stage of our lives."

They'd been through a lot of stages together: friendship for eight years, dating for a year, engaged to each other a year, ex-fiancés after a _messy_ breakup, friends again, long term committed couple living together for nine years, then finally husband and wife – just around the time they became grandparents, too. She'd raised a daughter as a single mother beginning as a teenager and he'd been there along the way, he'd raised a daughter that came into his life as a preteen and she'd been there along the way. Maybe for this stage, things were finally a little more traditional. They were married, becoming grandparents for their first time together.

Though they hadn't been together as a couple all of the past twenty years, but their relationship definitely spanned two decades as they'd been riding out life together all that time, in some manner.

"Let's go to sleep," Luke was saying suddenly and she wasn't sure how long she'd zoned out. "I'm exhausted."

"Man, me too," Lorelai agreed.

"Before you know it the baby's going to be home. We gotta sleep while we can."

Maybe the reality of the situation was still hitting her – they may be the grandparents, but for a while this baby was going to be a very real presence in their daily lives.

It amazed her how her family had grown. She'd spent so many years, just her and Rory. Now the four of them – _five_ of them after today- had merged into one little family unit. In the past year especially, it seemed to all meld together, what with Rory being home with them and the marriage and the baby.

It was all just part of the journey.


End file.
